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INFORMATION VISUALIZATION
Design the display medias to communicate clearly and efficiently. This involves
several different things depending on which medium you are to design, but some
general examples can be given. For example you should use labels directly in the
graph so the user does not have to jump back and forth between the graph and a
legend. This is something Tufte (1983) also mentions in one of his seven grand principles of information visualization. When using colors, you should also consider that
bright colors stand out and that the use of too alike colors makes it hard to distinguish
them from each other.
Encode the quantitative data accurately. If graphical representations are designed
poorly, this can lead to inaccurate conclusions. For example in a bar chart comparisons often are made of the bars’ length and if the whole scale is not shown, these
comparisons will be misleading. The value in a bar chart should therefore always start
at 0.
Organize and arrange the data to facilitate understanding. The most important data
and data that need immediate attention should be prominent. Data that is related
should be grouped together. Both Cooper and Reimann (2003) and Few (2006)
mention that in western countries the user’s eye scans the screen from left to right and
top to bottom. This means that, for users from these countries, the top left corner of
the screen is the most prominent and that the lower right corner is the least prominent.
This must be considered when arranging the data in the dashboard.
Highlight important data effectively. The most important information in the dashboard
should immediately stand out when you look at it. This can be done by using the preattentive attributes of visual perception described earlier in this chapter.
Avoid the use of abundant decoration. Useless decoration act as distraction and is
often a waste of space, which already is limited in a dashboard. When designing
graphical attributes for dashboards, such as icons, it is therefore important to reduce
the number of colors, avoid excessive visual detail and maintain a modest size of the
graphical attributes. When designing icons, metaphors can be used since they are
understood intuitively and are useful for representing the purpose of for example a
button in a toolbar (Cooper & Reimann, 2003).
Avoid misuse or overuse of color. Colors should only be used when they add something to the visualization, i.e. thoughtfully and not randomly. We should be aware of
that we pay attention to color which appear as contrasts, relate the same colors to each
other even if used in different places, and that we exclude 10% of the male population
and 1% of the female population when using colors such as red, yellow and green as
the only mean of interpretation. It is therefore important to provide a complementary
way for users with color impairment to interpret important information (Cooper &
Reimann, 2003).
Design attractive visual displays. Since a dashboard is to supply users with important
information, it shall also be pleasant to look at. Most often simplicity is the way to go
according to Few (2006).
Few (2006) means that well-designed dashboards are exceptionally well organized,
specific and customized to users of the dashboard, and use concise and small media to
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